Protesters spell out their grievances at the Wisconsin State Capitol

AP reports:MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin's union-busting governor and fellow Republicans in the state legislature successfully pushed through a law Thursday that strips public workers of most collective bargaining rights, ending for now a three-week battle that saw all Democratic state senators flee to a neighboring state and as many as 80,000 protest at the Capitol building.

The extraordinarily contentious law passed the state Assembly, the lower house, on a 53-43 vote within hours of a Republican maneuver in the Senate on Wednesday night overcame a parliamentary logjam caused by the three-week self-exile of Democratic Senators. They had taken refuge in neighboring Illinois to prevent a vote on the larger budget measure to which the collective bargaining ban was attached.